Chapter 78: Chapter 67: First Grade Grandmaster

A piercing cold filled the air.

Even the falling rain instantly froze into ice crystals, which shattered into dust upon hitting the ground.

’Is this the feeling of First Grade?’

Within Su Chen, his aura surged.

His blood, bones, marrow, and Internal Organs—every pore on his body—seemed to sing, greedily absorbing the Thunder Power.

The very thunder that meant to destroy Su Chen was now refining him. Before the body forged by the Four Great Extremes, the lightning served only as a baptism, hastening his entry into the ranks of a First Grade Leakless Body.

To break into First Grade, there are two paths. The Path of the Body involves comprehending Celestial Sense to perfect the physical form, becoming a Leakless Junior Grandmaster. The Path of Qi requires Stepping into the Profound Gate to generate True Essence, becoming a Meridian True Essence Minor Grandmaster.

But in this moment, Su Chen forged his own path.

He had not only comprehended Celestial Sense in the Void and drawn the thunder to refine his body; he also vaguely felt as if he had taken a step and shattered something.

It felt like... it was the Profound Gate within him.

BOOM!

In that instant, all the qi meridians in Su Chen’s body opened. The Cyan Jade Qi, once confined to his skin, now permeated his entire being. It condensed, growing ever more crystalline, just like True Essence.

No!

It was even stronger than True Essence.

And that wasn’t all.

Within Su Chen, his body was now a seamless whole, his flesh and blood reaching a state of Perfection. Golden patterns from the Eighteen Golden Body Technique appeared on his skin. He had reached the Leakless Realm.

A gale swirled around him like an Azure Dragon, erupting from his body and surging toward the heavens, as if to shatter the very thunder that filled the sky.

Though he didn’t know how, Su Chen, a practitioner of the Path of the Body, had somehow achieved both the Leakless Realm and the True Essence Realm simultaneously.

He had become a Dual First-Grade Minor Grandmaster.

He was First Grade!

A power far beyond his previous Second Grade erupted within him. He felt that even if a Peak-level master were here, he could kill them with nothing more than the Thunderous Roar inside his body.

Perhaps only a Grandmaster could stand against him now.

「Meanwhile.」

Outside the Library Pavilion, a figure erupted with Violent Qi. Moving as fast as a flash of sword light, robes whipping in the wind, he crossed a hundred zhang in an instant. With a single kick, he shattered the courtyard wall and landed inside the Library Pavilion grounds.

"Hahaha!"

"Crawl out here and die, you ant of a Eunuch!"

The Sword Daoist cackled madly.

The Duster in his hand stiffened, pointing straight up. The Vitality he had amassed using a Secret Technique erupted from within, pushing him to his Peak state.

RUMBLE—

As luck would have it, it was a stormy night. The endless thunder in the sky perfectly complemented his perfect Thunder True Intent and his Swordless Sword Intent.

"How marvelous!"

"It seems the heavens themselves are helping me kill you!"

"An Old Liang Remnant, the Wind Snow Little Grandmaster, is that it? Well then, I’ll let you witness the true style... of... Great Zhou’s finest..."

The Sword Daoist’s words caught in his throat.

He saw that the wave of Qi from Su Chen’s body had actually churned up and scattered the thunder across the sky. The celestial Thunder Power he had intended to borrow vanished in an instant.

His Swordless Sword Intent grew abnormally weak, as if cowering before a far more terrifying Sword Intent dwelling within the black-robed figure. It didn’t even dare to manifest and contend for dominance.

His two greatest strengths had vanished into thin air.

"How is this possible?!"

Horror seized the Sword Daoist.

It was precisely with these two Perfect True Intents and his First-Grade foundation—so close to the Grandmaster Realm—that he could look down on Peak-level masters as if they were ants.

And yet, in the face of Su Chen, he couldn’t even execute his two ultimate techniques.

Just what in the world was this Old Liang Remnant?!

’Could he be a Grandmaster?’

"What was that you just said?"

Su Chen lifted his gaze to him.

In that instant, every hair on the Sword Daoist’s body stood on end. A chill spread through him, as if he’d been plunged into an icy abyss.

An incredible sense of pressure washed over him.

His instincts screamed at him.

’If I dare to draw my sword...’

’I will die!’

Besides, his Swordless Sword Intent was so thoroughly suppressed, he couldn’t have summoned a sword even if he tried.

"My apologies, I seem to have come to the wrong place."

"Your Majesty..."

"...He wanted me to ask if Lord Su requires anything else. He will do his utmost to satisfy any request..."

All his earlier arrogance gone, the Sword Daoist forced a smile onto his old face. Without a moment’s hesitation, he turned to flee.

’Ah, now I remember,’ Su Chen thought. ’This Sword Daoist in front of me actually came here to kill me.’

"So, he told you to ’give it a try,’ and you really gave it a try, huh?"

That very night.

Su Chen stepped forward.

From within him...

...came a Thunderous Roar.

"No!"

the Sword Daoist shrieked in terror.

That night, the Sword Daoist never stepped out of the Library Pavilion again. All that could be heard was the sound of a shovel digging into the earth, over and over.

「Elsewhere.」

Sensing the fleeting burst of heavenly, thunderous fury in the distance, a faint, pleased smile touched the Flame Emperor’s lips.

’It seems,’ he thought, ’the Sword Daoist has succeeded.’

’This last lord of Great Liang, the Wind Snow Little Grandmaster, wasn’t so tough after all! He was dealt with before he could even force the Sword Daoist to use his Sword Intent.’

’The rumors must have been exaggerated!’

However, the Flame Emperor waited in Jinluan Hall for a long, long time, but the Sword Daoist never appeared with Su Chen’s head to report the mission’s success.

He waited, and waited.

By the time the sun rose the next day, the Civil and Military Officials were already gathering for morning court.

The Flame Emperor snapped out of his reverie as if waking from a dream.

An uncontrollable terror filled his eyes.

’The Sword Daoist... is dead?’

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